The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seeks to address challenged posed by the sunset of the London interbank offered rate at the end of 2021.

The rescue bill enabled banks to protect loans in forbearance from an immediate hit to a borrower’s credit report, but experts say affected consumers may have trouble getting loans after the pandemic ends.

The templates are meant to make it easier to obtain agency approval for small-dollar loan products and to accommodate mortgage servicers that want to provide online loss mitigation options.

The agency has freed companies from reporting requirements and provided flexibility on exams to help them deal with COVID-19 fallout. It has also finished other regulatory relief efforts that were in the pipeline before the pandemic hit.

Eligible borrowers can add the forborne payments to the end of their loan term.

The joint site describes potential strategies for both homeowners and renters economically affected by COVID-19.

Specialized Loan Servicing will pay more than $1 million to settle Consumer Financial Protection Bureau allegations that it foreclosed on protected consumers and failed to send required evaluation notices in 2014.

Complaints to the bureau hit an all-time high in April. More than one in five said servicers wouldn't grant deferrals, forced borrowers into forbearance or violated other requirements of the coronavirus relief law.

Credit inquiries for auto lending, revolving credit cards and mortgages fell sharply in March as unemployment surged, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report.

The bureau issued an interpretive rule clarifying that consumers under certain conditions can modify or waive waiting periods required by the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's chief operating officer will take a similar position at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, fulfilling one of the multiple recruiting goals the FHFA announced in January.

The bureau said it began developing the standards before the coronavirus pandemic. But more transfers may occur as some servicers struggle to meet their obligations during the economic downturn.

The agency is still moving forward on key regulations dealing with payday lending and mortgage underwriting despite new demands posed by the crisis.

The Borrower Protection Program enables the two agencies to exchange information about loss mitigation efforts and consumer complaints regarding specific servicers.

Five Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter to Director Kathy Kraninger calling the agency's response to COVID-19 “tepid and ineffectual at best.”

The agency said lenders should avoid reporting delinquent payments to credit bureaus for consumers who have sought payment relief due to the pandemic.

The agency has relaxed some reporting requirements and joined other regulators in encouraging banks to help borrowers, but pressure is building on the bureau to do more to aid consumers suffering financial hardship.

The reprieve from mortgage data collection was among several changes to the agency’s supervisory and enforcement procedures to help firms responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accommodations for borrowers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, such as payment delays and fee waivers, are "positive and proactive actions that can manage or mitigate adverse impacts," the regulators said.

The pandemic has upended staffing plans, sparked concerns about servicers’ capacity to handle the expected crush of missed payments, and even raised questions about their ability to stay afloat.